I played this game a short while after launch and I’m writing this review looking back on it all these years later. I remember the combat was pretty fun and figuring out combos was intense and rewarding, but didn’t really incentivize trying new characters over sticking with your same bread and butter you knew. The story felt like a load of hogwash I barely remember outside the lesser moments, that sort of rushed to the end. Fun character designs and world weren’t enough to carry this game to the greatness of its predecessor, Skullgirls, and making what should have been a free update into paid DLC ensured this game would be collecting dust on the shelf after I beat the initial campaign.

This review contains spoilers

Honk

(Pre-Anniversary Patch)
An innovative leap that pushed not only the FPS genre but narrative structure in games. Coming off of playthroughs of the first 2 Dooms and Quake, I can see how these blew minds back in ‘98. On A Rail and Xen are the 2 stages that have either aged the worst or were possibly never good to begin with.

Jonathan Blow more like Jonathan Blows (it was ok, some of the platforming sections expected way too much out of you)

Pre-F2P was on some insane shit, it’s still ok to this day

Dumb fun but impossibly unbalanced and janky for an online game. But at the end of the day, classes/characters being unlocked by a gacha system is the game’s cardinal sin and the main hurdle from it being redeemable.

ooooo I cooka da greatest 2D platformer of the year
As someone who followed this game since its early inception in 2017, this game still managed to overdeliver and surprise me the whole way in my first playthrough
Eagerly anticipating the Noise update

I got this + all the DLC for like $5 the week before it got nuked
There is a decently goofy JStars sequel hidden under the horrific skin suits all the characters are wearing, basically on par with 6th-7th gen anime arena fighters (talking out my ass)
Modding scene brings it from a 4 to a 5/10

Wonderful adventure that has a bit of the same spark as its predecessor, Cave Story. With a hard as balls NG+ I havent beaten yet and plenty of choice in weapons, its hard not to enjoy this game a few times over.

Feels like i was playing a kids game for adults (good)

you ever live-service so hard that you release a new character 2 weeks before your game is obliterated off the face of the earth?

As someone who's still wetting my feet into VR, this feels like an instant classic for the medium. A simple enough concept fleshed out and executed in a way thats engaging and takes full advantage of the VR experience. Sick as fuck.